Visual configuration

In GRUB it is possible, by default, to change the look of the menu. Make sure to initialize, if not done already, GRUB graphical terminal, gfxterm, with proper video mode, gfxmode, in GRUB. This can be seen in the section #"No suitable mode found" error. This video mode is passed by GRUB to the linux kernel via 'gfxpayload' so any visual configurations need this mode in order to be in effect.

Setting the framebuffer resolution

GRUB can set the framebuffer for both GRUB itself and the kernel. The old vga= way is deprecated. The preferred method is editing /etc/default/grub as the following sample:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

Multiple resolutions can be specified, including the default auto, so it is recommended that you edit the line to resemble GRUB_GFXMODE=<desired resolution>,<fallback such as 1024x768>,auto. For more information, refer to the GRUB gfxmode documentation. The gfxpayload property will make sure the kernel keeps the resolution.

Note: Only the modes supported by the graphics card via VESA BIOS Extensions can be used. To view the list of supported modes, install hwinfo and run hwinfo --framebuffer as root. Alternatively, enter the GRUB command line and run the command vbeinfo.

If this method does not work for you, the deprecated vga= method will still work. Just add it next to the "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" line in /etc/default/grub for example: "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash vga=792" will give you a 1024x768 resolution.

915resolution hack

Some times for Intel graphic adapters neither # hwinfo --framebuffer nor vbeinfo will show you the desired resolution. In this case you can use 915resolution hack. This hack will temporarily modify video BIOS and add needed resolution. See 915resolution's home page

First you need to find a video mode which will be modified later. For that we need the GRUB command shell:

Lastly we need to set GRUB_GFXMODE as described earlier, regenerate grub.cfg and reboot to test changes.

Background image and bitmap fonts

GRUB comes with support for background images and bitmap fonts in pf2 format. The unifont font is included in the grub package under the filename unicode.pf2, or, as only ASCII characters under the name ascii.pf2.

Note: If you have installed GRUB on a separate partition, /boot/grub/myimage becomes /grub/myimage.

Re-generategrub.cfg to apply the changes. If adding the splash image was successful, the user will see "Found background image..." in the terminal as the command is executed. If this phrase is not seen, the image information was probably not incorporated into the grub.cfg file.

If the image is not displayed, check:

The path and the filename in /etc/default/grub are correct

The image is of the proper size and format (tga, png, 8-bit jpg)

The image was saved in the RGB mode, and is not indexed

The console mode is not enabled in /etc/default/grub

The command grub-mkconfig must be executed to place the background image information into the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file

Theme

Here is an example for configuring Starfield theme which was included in GRUB package.

Edit /etc/default/grub

GRUB_THEME="/usr/share/grub/themes/starfield/theme.txt"

Re-generategrub.cfg to apply the changes. If configuring the theme was successful, you will see Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/starfield/theme.txt in the terminal.

Your splash image will usually not be displayed when using a theme.

Menu colors

You can set the menu colors in GRUB. The available colors for GRUB can be found in the GRUB Manual.
Here is an example:

Hidden menu

One of the unique features of GRUB is hiding/skipping the menu and showing it by holding Esc when needed. You can also adjust whether you want to see the timeout counter.

Edit /etc/default/grub as you wish. Here is an example where the comments from the beginning of the two lines have been removed to enable the feature, the timeout has been set to five seconds and to be shown to the user:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is how many seconds before displaying menu. You also need to set GRUB_TIMEOUT=0 if you want to hide menu.

Disable framebuffer

Users who use NVIDIA proprietary driver might wish to disable GRUB's framebuffer as it can cause problems with the binary driver.

To disable framebuffer, edit /etc/default/grub and uncomment the following line:

GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console

Another option if you want to keep the framebuffer in GRUB is to revert to text mode just before starting the kernel. To do that modify the variable in /etc/default/grub:

Booting ISO9660 image file directly via GRUB

Persistent block device naming

One naming scheme for Persistent block device naming is the use of globally unique UUIDs to detect partitions instead of the "old" /dev/sd*. Advantages are covered up in the above linked article.

Persistent naming via file system UUIDs are used by default in GRUB.

Note: The /boot/grub.cfg file needs regeneration with the new UUID in /etc/default/grub every time a relevant file system is resized or recreated. Remember this when modifying partitions & file systems with a Live-CD.

Whether to use UUIDs is controlled by an option in /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

Using labels

It is possible to use labels, human-readable strings attached to file systems, by using the --label option to search. First of all, label your existing partition:

Password protection of GRUB menu

If you want to secure GRUB so it is not possible for anyone to change boot parameters or use the command line, you can add a user/password combination to GRUB's configuration files. To do this, run the command grub-mkpasswd-pbkdf2. Enter a password and confirm it:

Combining the use of UUIDs and basic scripting

If you like the idea of using UUIDs to avoid unreliable BIOS mappings or are struggling with GRUB's syntax, here is an example boot menu item that uses UUIDs and a small script to direct GRUB to the proper disk partitions for your system. All you need to do is replace the UUIDs in the sample with the correct UUIDs for your system. The example applies to a system with a boot and root partition. You will obviously need to modify the GRUB configuration if you have additional partitions:

menuentry "Arch Linux 64" {
# Set the UUIDs for your boot and root partition respectively
set the_boot_uuid=ece0448f-bb08-486d-9864-ac3271bd8d07
set the_root_uuid=c55da16f-e2af-4603-9e0b-03f5f565ec4a
# (Note: This may be the same as your boot partition)
# Get the boot/root devices and set them in the root and grub_boot variables
search --fs-uuid $the_root_uuid --set=root
search --fs-uuid $the_boot_uuid --set=grub_boot
# Check to see if boot and root are equal.
# If they are, then append /boot to $grub_boot (Since $grub_boot is actually the root partition)
if [ $the_boot_uuid == $the_root_uuid ] ; then
set grub_boot=($grub_boot)/boot
else
set grub_boot=($grub_boot)
fi
# $grub_boot now points to the correct location, so the following will properly find the kernel and initrd
linux $grub_boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/$the_root_uuid ro
initrd $grub_boot/initramfs-linux.img
}

Manually creating grub.cfg

Warning: Editing this file is strongly discouraged. The file is generated by the grub-mkconfig command, and it is best to edit your /etc/default/grub or one of the scripts in the /etc/grub.d directory.